Blown Away
by kaloobia
Summary: Stephanie Handler knows how to fake emotions, a gift that is necessary when she moves to Sweet Amoris to live with her Auntie. Hoping to hide her past and start all over, she doesn't expect to warm up to everyone so quickly. How can she hide her secrets from people that she trusts so much? Rated T, might change to M later.
1. Chapter 1

"Auntie, I'm going now!"

"Oh, but hon, let me drive you!"

"I told you I'd be fine! It's only a few blocks away! What am I, handicapped?"

"Oh, alright. But be careful!"

"Okay, bye!"

Stephanie stepped out the door of the large house, a light morning breeze ruffling her short, straw-blond ringlets. As fake as they looked, they were natural. She headed toward the direction of the new high school she would be attending, deciding to go through the park. It was early, nearly an hour before classes were supposed to start, but there were already a few people in the park, some out on a morning jog, others here to play with their dogs. Stephanie herself was an early riser, liking the feeling of being up before everyone else.

Like she had expected, it was a short walk to school. The gates were open, luckily, so Stephanie walked in, observing her surroundings. It was a small place, seeming to only have two or three stories, but everything was in place and the hallways were clean and empty.

"Excuse me, miss," said a voice behind her, and Stephanie turned to see a short, elderly lady smiling up at her.

"Would you happen to be the new student?" she continued, and Stephanie smiled back, bowing her head slightly.

"Yes, ma'am, I'm here early to enroll," Stephanie answered. _Act mature, like you know what you're doing, and never let anyone know what you're thinking._ My mother's voice resonated in my head, but I pushed it back.

"Well, then, please go over to see Nathaniel, the student body president, and he'll get you all signed up," the lady said, pleased with the greeting, "I'm the principal, by the way. Welcome to Sweet Amoris." The principal walked off, and Stephanie trailed down the hall, looking for the door marked the student council room.

She knocked lightly on the door when she found it, and heard a faint 'come in'. She obeyed, and was impressed by how neat and organized the room was. Papers were stacked neatly on the shelves and in the see-through cabinets, and everything was clean and pleasant to look at. The boy inside the room turned to look at her as she came in, and Stephanie smiled politely.

"Hello, I'm looking for the student council president, Nathaniel," she said, and the boy smiled.

"That would be me. I haven't seen you before: are you here to enroll?" Nathaniel asked, and Stephanie nodded in response. Nathaniel was a tall, lean boy with golden blond hair and matching eyes. His attire consisted of formal dress pants and a white dress shirt, and he even had a blue tie around his neck. He dug around in one of the drawers and pulled out a few sheets of paper, then handed them to Stephanie.

"Here, you have to fill these in. And... I didn't catch your name," Nathaniel mentioned.

"Stephanie Handler," she answered, "And, if you don't mind, can I fill out the forms here?"

"Of course. Just sit at the table, and go ahead," Nathaniel replied, and Stephanie got to work. In five minutes, she was done. Nathaniel looked at her suspiciously.

"Are you sure you read everything?"

"I'm a fast reader," Stephanie replied.

"Well, in the case, I'm quite impressed," Nathaniel praised, "Now, let's see, everything seems to be filled out... Oh, you're guardian needs to sign this," he paused, handing her the paper, "Also, I'm going to need a photo ID, and the entrance fee is $25..." Stephanie handed him the desired items. "That seems to be it, really..."

They stood awkwardly, and Stephanie noticed Nathaniel staring at her; he quickly averted his gaze when she noticed, looking embarrassed.

"Um, sorry... It's just your eyes, are they... natural?" he asked shyly. Stephanie got this question often: her eyes a were a deep purple, almost indigo.

"Are yours?" she asked as a reply, and Nathaniel blushed.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to be rude..." Stephanie smiled.

"I'm just kidding, and yes, this is my natural eye color," Stephanie explained, and Nathaniel nodded. There was another long silence, until Nathaniel cleared his throat.

"If you want, I could show you to your classes," he suggested. Stephanie didn't see the harm: she didn't care for getting lost, and she'd like to get familiar with at least one person.

"Sure," she answered, and Nathaniel seemed to brighten up ever so slightly. She followed him out the door, not really understanding the gesture of kindness, but accepting it anyways.

**A/N: Um, hi... Well, this is my first My Candy Love fanfic, and I'm still not that far in the episodes, so go easy on me, please. :P I'll be featuring most of the characters, plus a few OCs here and there, but no Ken, because I don't think he'd really fit in with the plot of the story (sorry). Anyway, I hope you like it, and it will get much more interesting, I promise. Thanks for reading, and make sure to review! :)**

**-kaloobia**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Sorry, just mentioning that there may be some swearing coming up. So yeah, just so you know. Enjoy! :D**

The first few classes were alright: math, history, music... Nathaniel had shown her to her classes, though he wasn't in a lot of them. Stephanie found this kind, sweet even, since he risked being late to his own classes. Then she'd had English: it was her all-time favorite class, as odd as that sounded. But she loved to write: words and ideas came to her naturally, and seemed to flow out of the pen as she wrote. It was one of her only passions, the only thing that could never bore her, what she could do without having to be scolded. Well, that's how it used to be, and how it still is, but now the circumstances were different.

The teachers seemed to like her alright, but she got condescending glares from some of the students, which she sort of expected. She was used to being called a teacher's pet, though she was really just trying her best in class.

She'd made some friends, though: a girl named Iris, who seemed to be nice to everyone, and then Melody, who she met through Nathaniel. She was a class delegate, so it made sense that the two would be friends. There was also Violette, a shy, adorable little thing who seemed to excel in art class. And Kim, and tomboy who had a bit of an attitude, but once she figured you couldn't be bullied, opened up to you immediately. She seemed especially protective of Violette.

Stephanie looked for one of them now, as she stood at the entrance of the cafeteria. She spotted Iris, Kim and Violette sitting together, along with another girl she didn't recognize. They waved her over, and she walked over to where they sat, sitting down. The other girl, who had long white hair and piercing golden eyes, immediately took an interest in her.

"Who's the new girl?" she asked, leaning forward and licking her lips. Iris laughed.

"Stop scaring, her, Rosa. This is Stephanie, she just enrolled today. Steph, this is Rosalya. Don't let her attitude fool you, she's actually really nice and thoughtful," Iris finished, and Rosalya sniffed haughtily.

"Girl, please, there's not a single sweet thing about me. But, Steph, how do you like you're stay so far?" she asked, turning back to Stephanie.

"It's actually alright," Stephanie shrugged, unpacking her lunch, "I've only been here a few days, but it's a nice town, and there's everything necessary, and more." Rosalya laughed.

"You sound like you're calculating something for a science project," she commented, grinning. The others laughed, and Stephanie couldn't help smiling herself.

"Okay, so since you're here, I'll give you a few warnings. See that girl over there? That's Peggy. The camera around her neck explains everything: she's part of the newspaper club, and is always hungry for some fresh news. If she targets you, no matter what, don't let her wear you out enough that you actually divulge something to her: it'll end up around the whole school. And that there, that's Capucine. Same rule applies to her: it'll all go straight up to Amber."

"Who's Amber?" Stephanie interrupted, and a moment later felt a shove in the back. She turned brusquely to see a blond girl glaring at her.

"I saw you with my brother earlier," she said, as if she hadn't just shoved Stephanie, "You better stay away from him."

"Excuse me?" Stephanie asked, not letting her aggravation show, "Instead of telling me what to do, how about you do something about that dot on your face? It doesn't look too good on you." It was a weak comeback, but it seemed to infuriate the girl enough to send her stomping away. Stephanie turned back to the other girls, who were looking at her with approval.

"_That's_ Amber," Rosalya explained dryly, "She has two other girls always following her around, Charlotte and Li. She's also Nathaniel's sister. She hates everything and everyone, with the exception of Castiel, who she has a crush on."

"Do you really have to keep saying that out loud? It gets annoying, having to hear it so often." A male voice made Stephanie turn once again: a guy with blazing red hair and steely black eyes stood right behind her, a frown on his face. He was dressed in a leather jacket and jeans, giving him a tough appearance.

"Aw, don't be such a prick, Cassy," Rosalya pouted, "What are you doing here, anyway?"

"Doing Lysander's dirty work," the boy replied, grumbling, "He wanted me to tell you that Leigh's expecting you after school's out." Rosalya brightened up.

"Super-duper!" she exclaimed. As if just noticing her, the boy looked down at Stephanie, who stared back.

"Who's the new chick?" he asked. Stephanie felt defensive, and answered coolly.

"I'm Stephanie, a new student. And you're Castiel... Van der Douch?" Both Kim and Rosalya burst out laughing. Stephanie expected Castiel to snap back, but instead he smirked.

"Well, good to see you have some bite in you. You look like such a Goody-Two-Shoes, I thought you'd be as uptight as the prez," he commented. Stephanie had a feeling he was talking about Nathaniel. Castiel turned to leave, but turned back before he was out of earshot, and called:

"Hey Rosalya, make sure you use protection when you get to Leigh!"

With deadly accuracy, Rosalya threw her fork at the guy's head, and he smirked before leaving.

"So, I'm guessing that this Leigh is your boyfriend?" Stephanie asked Rosalya. She nodded, a sudden dreamy look in her eyes, but then went back to normal. Stephanie wondered how simply the mention of a boy could change her so suddenly. She must really like him.

"Hey, Steph, that's a pretty necklace you've got," Rosalya commented. Stephanie smiled, trying to hide the twinge of pain she felt. The necklace was a silver chain with two fish interlocking, or chasing each other, Stephanie could never decide.

"Thank you. It... was my mother's, before she gave it to me..." she answered. She didn't tell them more, and, thankfully, she didn't have to. As much as she liked these girls, she didn't know, or trust them in enough to confide in them.

Stephanie finished her lunch, then said goodbye to the girls as she left to get some fresh air before afternoon classes. The courtyard was large, and not many people were there. Good. Stephanie went and sat at a bench, erasing any troubling thoughts, trying to think happy. She wanted to take the necklace off, to keep it from saddening her, but she just couldn't bring herself to do so, because that in itself caused her a large amount of pain and guilt.

Her foot hit something under the bench, and Stephanie bent down and picked up a notebook. Had someone lost it? Curiously, she opened it to look at it's contents. She immediately closed it, heat rising to her cheeks in embarrassment. Song lyrics! She couldn't just go and read something so personal! But what would she do with it? Was it's owner looking for it?

"Excuse me, would you mind returning me my notebook?" Stephanie turned brusquely to see a white-haired boy staring down at her with his multi-colored eyes. He was dressed oddly, as if he was from the Victorian era, but it definitely looked good on him. Stephanie fumbled with the notebook, handing it to the boy with clumsiness. To her surprise, he stared at her with a look of confusion.

"That's it? No blackmail? No 'Can I please read it'?" he asked, perplexed. Stephanie stared at him.

"W-Well, it's none of my business, is it? And, well, I looked inside, but then saw song lyrics, so... Well, I know how personal that can be..." Stephanie explained sloppily. Thankfully, the boy's eyes softened.

"Thank you for your consideration," he said, smiling slightly. He sat down next to her, observing her with curiosity.

"I haven't seen you before. Are you knew?" he asked.

"Yes, I just enrolled today," Stephanie replied, "I'm Stephanie Handler."

"Handler..." the boy mused, "It sounds familiar..." Stephanie felt a cold sweat gather on the back of her neck.

"Well, it's quite common for a last name," she said brusquely, and the boy nodded, settling for that explanation.

"I'm Lysander, by the way," Lysander said, introducing himself, "Again, thank you for finding my notebook... Do you write?" he asked suddenly, his eyes sparkling. Stephanie hesitated.

"I... Yes, but not songs... Stories," she explained, and Lysander smiled.

"I'd like to read them sometime, if that's alright. I've tried writing a story, and find it much harder than song-writing," he said, and Stephanie smiled in disbelief.

"You must be joking. When I try to write a song, I fail completely."

"But the two aren't very different, are they?" Lysander mused, "Songs are like stories, but with a little bit of music mixed."

"Yes, that's why I envy you," Stephanie sighed, "Songs... They're so much easier to express. But I never have the courage to share my stories." Lysander chuckled.

"Well, there's a first time for everything, isn't there?" he asked, his eyes laughing, "I really would like to read sometime." He had beautiful eyes, Stephanie noticed, and the longest eyelashes she had ever seen on a man. She smiled.

"I'll consider the offer," she promised, and Lysander nodded. He stood up, looking around.

"Well, I should be going. Take care, Stephanie," he said, bowing slightly. Stephanie giggled, and, standing up, curtsied in return. It helped that she was wearing a skirt.

She watched Lysander walk off, and smiled to herself. Maybe her stay here at Sweet Amoris wouldn't be as bad as she thought.

**A/N: Heyo! Tis the second chappy! :D Hope you enjoyed! So, um, if you have any ideas or requests to put in the story, I usually accept them (though I won't make any promises)! I'll give you credit, of course! I'll update as soon as possible. Thanks for reading! :)**


	3. Chapter 3

_I just realized that I haven't been putting any disclaimers at the beginnings of chapters. I'm such an ass. Disclaimer: The characters all belong to ChinoMiko, except Stephanie (mine, all mine) (don't touch her) (I'm looking at you, Nat) (And Lys) (Okay, that's enough)._

"Woah..."

"Yes, it's messy, isn't it?" Melody agreed, nodding her head. 'Messy' was an understatement. The student council room was in a disarray: papers ripped and scattered on the floor, cabinets turned over on their sides, even scratch marks on the table.

"It's as if a tornado passed through here..." Stephanie muttered, "Nathaniel must be distraught..."

In the few weeks she'd been here, Stephanie had grown used to having Nathaniel in her company. He was nice, but at times a bit uptight, and hated anything that wasn't in order. Something like this must really have shocked him.

"About that..." Melody said hesitantly, "Nathaniel hasn't been here yet today, so he doesn't know... I was hoping we could get it cleaned up before he came." Melody was always helping in the student council room, and had brought Stephanie with her because she'd said there was an emergency. Stephanie could see what she meant. Apparently, the student council room had been vandalized, but the culprit was still at large.

"Well, if that's the case, we'd better get started," Stephanie sighed, stepping over a pile of weed that had been left as a present. Melody looked at her gratefully, and started picking up stray papers.

"Thank you so much for helping me," she said, "I don't think I'd be able to do it myself... You're really dependable, you know?" Stephanie smiled, but she felt a bit disappointed. Is that what she was? Dependable? Dependable people were easy to take advantage of, but was she really like that? Stephanie usually did whatever someone told her to, if they asked politely. So was that a bad thing? No, no one had seen her when she was angry, so of course she would seem that way to everyone.

The two girls worked for two hours, but were only three quarters through when Nathaniel walked in, his eyes widening in alarm. Melody squeaked in surprise.

"N-Nathaniel... Um, we were just... cleaning up..." Stephanie didn't understand why Melody sounded so guilty, as if _she_ had vandalised the room, as if she was at fault for what had happened. Stephanie immediately stepped in front of the poor girl.

"Nathaniel, someone came in and did this to the student council room. It was a lot worse than this, and we were almost done cleaning it up," she explained coolly, just like her psychiatrist had taught her. Nathaniel was pale in the face, but nodded in understanding. He traced his fingers over the scratch marks on the table. He squeezed his eyes shut, sighed deeply, then started to clean up the rest of the mess.

"Nathaniel, w-what are you doing?" Melody asked, obviously still afraid that he was going to burst.

"I'm cleaning up," he answered hollowly, "You two can leave, I'll take care of the rest."

"But it's fine, we can-" Melody started.

"You two already did enough!" Nathaniel exclaimed angrily, "I'm sure the room was in much worse of a state when you started, so you helped enough! I'm a guy, I can do this fine by myself!" He fell silent, stacking the papers in neat files.

"Let's go," Stephanie muttered, and dragged Melody out by the hand. They walked side by side down the hall.

"He's as angry as I thought he would be..." Melody muttered, and the poor girl looked like she was on the verge of tears. Stephanie squeezed her hand.

"None of this is your fault: his anger wasn't aimed at you," she reassured, and Melody smiled gratefully. She was so sweet, and didn't deserve to be yelled at.

"Hey, chin up," Stephanie ordered, "You're so much prettier when you smile." Melody giggled.

Stephanie suddenly stopped. "Oh, I forgot something in my locker. You go on, I'll see you tomorrow." Melody nodded, and walked off.

Stephanie turned around and walked straight back to the student council room. She found that Nathaniel had made little progress, and started to help him wordlessly. He didn't question her motives: he's learned that he couldn't win in an argument against her.

"You don't seem too happy," Stephanie commented, partially to break the tension in the air, partially because she couldn't help but aggravate him. It was fun, seeing the faces he made. _You're so sick, Stephanie,_ she scolded herself.

"Yeah, I'm pretty pissed," Nathaniel answered, catching Stephanie off-guard. Nathaniel barely ever talked like that. "You two could've asked me to help, you know. We would've been done by now."

"Melody didn't want you to freak out," Stephanie explained. They worked in silence for a few more minutes.

"Who could've done this...?" Nathaniel muttered, shaking his head. Stephanie didn't really have anyone in mind. The only person she could think of who didn't really like Nathaniel was Castiel, but she was sure he wouldn't go this far. So who was it? Someone outside the school who thought this was some sort of harmless joke?

It was getting dark by the time Stephanie and Nathaniel finished cleaning up, and the student council room looked almost as it always did, save for the scratches on the table. Stephanie was starting to wonder how those had gotten there.

"Thanks for the help. Really..." Nathaniel said as they prepared to leave. But the thanks sounded deeper than that. Stephanie stared at him as he hesitated, and then finally said: "And thanks for explaining everything. You have a really calming presence, so..." He blushed, as if saying something embarrassing, but Stephanie felt something warm pool into her stomach, a feeling that was foreign to her.

"No problem. I'll see you tomorrow."

All she thought of was Nathaniel as she walked home that evening. Weird.

**A/N: Lolzies. See if you can guess who vandalised the student council room. I bet you'll never figure it out~! :P But thanks for reading, I'm thinking that I'll update every week or so, two weeks at the latest, probably on Saturdays. Hope you enjoy! :)**


	4. Chapter 4

_Disclaimer: My Candy Love belongs to ChiNoMiko, but Stephanie belongs to me._

"So... why am I here, again?" Stephanie asked irritably, stifling a yawn.

"So that I can take you shopping," Rosalya stated matter of factly, pulling a purple, Victorian sweater over her head.

"But why so _early_?" Stephanie demanded. Rosalya had called her at 5:00 in the morning, telling her to come to her place, _quick_. As it turned out, all Rosalya wanted was to go shopping, her reasoning being that Stephanie's choice of clothes were pathetic. "What's wrong with my clothes?" Stephanie had asked, a bit hurt. She thought they were fine: a t-shirt, jeans and sneakers. Totally normal. But not to Rosalya, obviously. "You're so pretty, Steph, but you hide it with your ugly clothes," had been Rosalya's response.

"Look, I'm your friend, and friends are special. So just let me help you, and open your car," Rosalya ordered.

"If I chose you over sleep, you'd _better_ feel fucking special..." Stephanie muttered under her breath as she fished for her car keys, and Rosalya whistled.

"Well, look at that, Miss Goody-Two-Shoes can _swear_," she teased, grinning. Stephanie rolled her eyes, but scolded herself inwardly for showing her true self so carelessly. But Rosalya made it so easy, practically _welcoming_ Stephanie to be herself.

They climbed into Stephanie's BMW, and Stephanie drove them to the mall, following Rosalya's directions. It was very large for such a small town, and although it was open for business, there was barely a soul in sight. Stephanie realized that the reason Rosalya had called her so early was so that they wouldn't have to deal with the late morning traffic. As much as she was sometimes annoying, Rosalya was one of the most sensible and resourceful people Stephanie had ever met.

She parked the car, and they made their way into the mall. Stephanie was impressed by the variety of different clothes stores there were: goth, preppy, girly, sexy... Rosalya stopped to think for a moment, then led Stephanie into a store with preppy clothes. Stephanie let Rosalya pick out the clothes for her, guessing that the other girl's fashion sense was far superior to her own. After a few minutes, Stephanie's arms were piled high with flowery miniskirts, blouses, leggings and jackets.

They spent well over an hour in the changing rooms, Rosalya giving her opinion on practically every outfit Stephanie tried on. It turned out she looked nice in black, blue, white and purple, so Rosalya tried to stay to those colors whenever she went back to get another article of clothing. They ended up buying a blue mini-skirt, two blouses (one light purple and the other gray), a white button-up shirt, a flowery knee-length skirt and green and white striped leggings. Rosalya was kind enough to pay for two thirds of it, but Stephanie insisted on paying the rest.

"I'd feel bad if you paid the full price for something that _I'm_ going to be wearing," was her excuse, but she really just didn't want Rosalya to think that Stephanie was taking advantage of her.

It was nearly 9:00 when the two finally exited the mall, loaded with dresses, shoes, pants and even accessories like hair-clips and gloves, all for Stephanie. Wanting to repay Rosalya for the huge favor, because she honestly loved the clothes they'd bought, Stephanie invited her friend over to her house, saying she'd make them breakfast. Rosalya readily agreed, for they were both starving.

Stephanie's aunt was ecstatic when they got to her house, welcoming Rosalya with open arms.

"Oh, I'm so happy that Stephanie is making friends!" Auntie exclaimed, "She has so few, you know-"

"Auntie, would you be okay with porridge for breakfast?" Stephanie interrupted brusquely, and her aunt nodded vigorously. Rosalya sat at the dining table as Stephanie cooked, and they talked about clothes preferences, music and other things. It turned out that Rosalya's boyfriend, Leigh, was the salesman at the clothes shop not far from the high school, and that he designed some of her clothes. Stephanie admitted a bit hesitantly that she wrote stories, but refused to let Rosalya read them, no matter how much she begged. But she did end up divulging what one of them was about: a highschool girl with dyslexia, who ends falling in love with her good-looking tutor.

"I call it 'Forbidden'," Stephanie explained, setting the porridge on the table.

"It sounds really good," Rosalya sighed, "Tell me when you change your mind about letting me read it, okay? But, hey, this smells really good!" she exclaimed, sniffing the porridge. Stephanie smiled as she sat across from her friend. She felt a warm feeling spread over her as, upon tasting her dish, Rosalya started heavily complimenting her cooking skills. Not many people complimented her very often.

"What do you put in in it?" Rosalya asked incredulously, and Stephanie shook her head.

"Secret recipe," she answered, acting all secretive, and Rosalya groaned comically, making them both laugh. Stephanie couldn't remember the last time she'd had this much fun. They conversed animately even after they finished their breakfast, and Stephanie led Rosalya up to her room upon the other girl's request. Rosalya didn't criticize her room as much as Stephanie thought she would, so she guessed that was a good sign. She thought that the pink walls were too much, but it was Auntie's house, after all. They sat on her bed, and somehow the conversation came to boys.

"Well, I'll always be loyal to Leigh," Rosalya stated haughtily, but then her eyes sparkled. "Steph, since you've been here, which of the guys are you most interested in?" she asked mischieviously. Stephanie rolled her eyes.

"I'm not interested in any guys," she insisted, "Never have been, really." Rosalya stared at her.

"You're a seventeen-year old girl, and you've never liked a guy?" she asked incredulously, and Stephanie shook her head. "Jesus, that's not healthy! Okay, so if you had to go out with one guy, who would it be?"

Stephanie pondered this for a moment.

"I don't know... Probably Lysander, or Nathaniel... They're both pretty nice to me, and good-looking, which is a big plus..." she admitted. Rosalya sighed.

"What am I going to do with you? A girl who's never been interested in guys, has no sense of fashion, and won't even let me read her writing... What kind of best friend are you?" she joked, and Stephanie socked her shoulder lightly.

"Best friends? Since when?" she asked coolly. Rosalya pouted.

"Well, we're girlfriends, aren't we?" she asked. Stephanie sighed.

"Look, I'll try to put this lightly: I'm not your girl, or your girlfriend, and I've only known you a few weeks. In fact, go ahead and think of me as a dude. Plus, I'm not really used to having friends, and... well, I wouldn't really know how to act. So... we're good?" she finished, looking at Rosalya nervously. She worried she might have offended the white-haired girl, but Rosalya just nodded in understanding.

"That's fine. But I'll just have to try my best until that changes!" she vowed, grinning. Stephanie couldn't help but smile.

Rosalya would make a great best friend.

**A/N: Yeah, a little girl on girl chappy, because I'm feeling sentimental and shit. It's a little boring, I know, but it gets better! (I hope...) Anyway, thanks for reading, and make sure to review! :)**


	5. Chapter 5

_Disclaimer: I do not own My Candy Love, only Stephanie._

This time, it was the gardening club that got vandalized. Flowers had been ripped to shreds, bits and pieces of dirt were scattered everywhere, and even the pots were broken. It was the morning after the weekend, and a crowd had gathered to marvel at the destruction. Iris choked back a sob, and Melody patted her shoulder comfortingly.

Jade, however, was quite the spectacle. The usually calm boy was cursing, stomping his foot, waving his arms madly and pulling at his hair. The crowd got the message, and dispersed, letting Jade fend off his anger in peace.

"First the student council room, now this..." Stephanie muttered in disbelief as she walked next to Nathaniel. He shook his head.

"Who'd want to do this? I'd love to say it was that bastard Castiel, but I have a feeling he wouldn't do this sort of thing just for fun," Nathaniel calculated aloud, frowning at the fact that he couldn't pin the blame onto Castiel. Stephanie had learned that the two really detested each other, and never let a chance to give the other grief pass.

"We should investigate," Stephanie said, "I, for one, would like to know who did it. Maybe give them a suspension for a few days."

"But how do we figure out who did it?" Nathaniel asked, frowning, "What do we do, investigate the crime scene?"

"Sure. How about during lunch?" Stephanie suggested, "You don't have to be part of it, of course. But then you'll never know who did it..." Nathaniel sighed.

"You won't tell me if I don't help, huh? Fine, meet you at the gardening club at lunch," Nathaniel conceded, then hurried in front of her so as not to be late for class. Stephanie only smiled: she had a feeling that Nathaniel wasn't helping her just because of the threat.

...

Stephanie got there first. Thankfully, Jade had left most of the stuff alone, not bothering to clean it all up yet (and probably too distraught to actually do so). She read crime novels often, and knew some of the basics steps to inspecting a crime scene. She crouched down and examined the leftover dirt: it looked like it had been flung out of the pots, and in tiny bits, not handfuls. And the flowers couldn't have been cut so thinly even if you used a shredder. Something was definitely wrong here.

"You started without me?" Nathaniel said from behind her, startling her slightly.

"You're late," was Stephanie's answer. She stood up and told him what she'd found. Nathaniel seemed as puzzled as she was.

"It's almost inhuman," he deduced, and Stephanie nodded. They looked around a bit more, and Nathaniel found a few pairs of scratch marks similar to the ones left in the student council room. Stephanie also found a few small droplets of dried blood in the grass. As if there'd been a fight.

There was sudden rustling in the bushes, and Stephanie snapped her head to look in that direction. A raccoon stumbled from under the rosebush, patches of fur ripped off its body and dried blood crusting around its right eye, which was closed shut. It noticed Stephanie and stared at her fearfully, getting ready to run off.

Everything suddenly clicked.

Stephanie lunged for the raccoon, and caught it right before it could escape. It struggled, squeaking in protest, but Stephanie didn't let go, despite the scratches she was acquiring on her cheeks and shirt. Nathaniel stared at her, wide-eyed, even a bit worried.

"S-Stephanie! You shouldn't touch it, it might have rabies!"

"Nat, I've handled animals before, don't worry," Stephanie replied, grabbing the raccoon's snout to keep it from biting her. It started to calm down, but still looked at her reproachfully. It's ear had a thorn in it, Stephanie saw, and so did it's hind paw.

"Why did you catch it?" Nathaniel asked apprehensively. Stephanie grinned.

"I think we've found our culprit."

...

It turned out that it hadn't been a student who vandalized the garden, but a raccoon. Two of them, actually. They'd had a cat-fight, and had destroyed practically everything in their path. The one they'd found had probably done something to anger the other raccoon, who had come after it for revenge. That's why they'd found the victim so beat up. It was the raccoons who had vandalized the student council room, as well. The victim had climbed in through the window, trying to escape his assailant, and had a pretty good amount of damage before fleeing back out through the window, the other raccoon hot on it's trail.

"Well, that definitely explains those scratch marks," Nathaniel commented, nodding, "But you deduced all of that by yourself?"

"I'm positive of it," Stephanie nodded. Melody, along with Iris and Jade, who'd also been listening, all stared at her in disbelief.

"Well, I'll have to ask the principal to put a wire fence around the club, then," Jade muttered as he turned to leave, Iris close behind.

"Still..." Melody muttered, "Just how long are you going to nurse that raccoon?"

Stephanie had been picking the thorns out of the raccoon's fur, and washing it's fur to clean out the blood. The raccoon had remained patient and still, as if knowing that Stephanie was trying to help it. She was now working on it's eyes, but she didn't think she could fix it so easily: it looked like the other raccoon had attempted to completely scratch it out of it's socket. She'd have to take it to the vet.

"Until it's strong enough to survive on it's own," Stephanie replied, pinching the raccoon's cheek lightly to see how it would react. It bit her finger, but lightly, in a playful way. It had obviously warmed up to her.

Melody left, shaking her head, but smiling at the cuteness of it all. Nathaniel smiled as well, and crouched down next to Stephanie to pet the raccoon.

"It's actually pretty cute," he admitted, smiling warmly as he scratched the raccoon behind the ear, "Reminds me of a cat..."

Stephanie couldn't tear her eyes away from that loving expression, for it suited him so well. She snapped out of her thoughts, and asked: "You like cats?"

"Who doesn't?" Nathaniel asked in response, "They're so cute, and fluffy, and cuddly..." The raccoon nuzzled Nathaniel's nose, and the boy nuzzled it back. Stephanie felt her heart melt at the adorable sight.

Okay, so maybe Nathaniel was uptight sometimes, and couldn't tell a good joke, but he could be so kind, and loving, even _cute_.

That was when, for the first time, she felt a warm, fuzzy feeling in the pit of her stomach, one that didn't leave for the rest of the day.

**A/N: ... I don't really have much to say XD I'll probably update again tomorrow, since this chapter's short and kind of boring. But anyways, hope you liked it, and please leave a review! :)**


	6. Chapter 6

_Disclaimer: My Candy Love belongs to ChiNoMiko, except for Stephanie, who belongs to me._

Stephanie had dared to bring her notebook to school with her.

Well, one of her notebooks. She had many, hundreds, though most of them were already filled up with writing. She'd been so pre-occupied with writing one of her stories, 'Shoe Box', the night before that she'd gone to bed very late. And now she was still looking for any spare moment to scribble the contents of her mind into the notebook. It was risky, since she knew that anyone could look over her shoulder and read a piece of her writing, but she was careful. How embarrassing it would be if the whole school knew that she wrote her own stories! She couldn't let it get out.

"So, this is one of the stories I've heard about."

So much for that plan.

Stephanie looked up brusquely to see Lysander over her shoulder, scanning the pages of her notebook. She squeaked and slammed it shut, heat pooling in her cheeks. Of course! Lysander was always in the courtyard at this time of day!

"Y-You scared me!" she exclaimed.

"May I keep reading?" Lysander asked in reply.

"No!" Stephanie answered hotly, crossing her arms and glaring at the taller boy, "Not now that you snuck up on me like that!"

"But it's so well-written, and very interesting!" Lysander urged, and Stephanie could have sworn he was pouting.

"It's about a girl in a comma. How could a guy find that interesting?" Stephanie frowned, and the corner of Lysander's mouth curled upwards.

"That's a bit sexist of you," he commented, obviously amused.

"W-Well, you can't read it!" Stephanie stated with a sense of finality. Lysander sighed.

"I suppose I'll have to win your trust somehow," he said, smiling slightly, then stood up and left. Stephanie sighed in relief, and continued to write until the bell rang for afternoon classes. She stuffed her notebook into her locker, then hurried to math.

...

It was gone.

Stephanie dug through her locker, throwing out anything that was in her way, but it wasn't there.

Someone had stolen her notebook. Of course, she panicked. Who could have taken it? Who would have _wanted_ to take it? Stephanie cursed under her breath and slammed her locker shut, looking around furtively and spotting Lysander. That jerk! He must have stolen it just so he could read her writing and make fun of her later! She stomped over to him angrily, and he turned to face her.

"Give it back," she ordered coldly, but Lysander only stared back in confusion.

"I'm sorry? Give what-"

"Don't play dumb!" Stephanie snapped, glaring up at him, "I know you stole my notebook! Who else would want to?"

"I- Someone stole your notebook?" Lysander questioned, realization dawning over him, "But who would want to do that?"

"So... It wasn't you?" Stephanie asked as she calmed down, though she was still suspicious. Lysander shook his head in response.

"It might have been-"

"Oh, look!" Amber walked up to them suddenly, with Charlotte and Li close behind. She had a large smirk on her face. "Miss Perfect looks like she has a problem!"

"Not now, Amber," Stephanie responded, aggravated, "I'm busy."

"Oh, I can tell," Amber said loudly, so that everyone in the hallway was listening, "That's why I'm here. Is... _this_ what you're looking for?" With a dramatic flourish, Amber reached into her handbag and took out Stephanie's notebook. Stephanie was speechless with anger, her gaze turning rock hard as she glared at the beach-blond. But Amber didn't let her interrupt. "I don't understand what's so important about it. Oh, could it be your _diary_?" she smirked, and opened it to look what's inside. "Nope, but look! Miss Perfect is writing a _story_!" By now the whole hallway had gone silent and was listening attentively to Amber's every word. "Well, everyone looks pretty interested. Why don't I read it aloud?"

Stephanie couldn't move, despite her urge to just grab her notebook and run. She was rooted to the spot in anger and even a little bit of fear, her palms sweating and body shaking. And Amber started to read. She started off mockingly, but slowly she began reading with more amazement. The students in the hallway listened attentively, and became absorbed in the story. It was about a girl, who lay in a comma and couldn't get out. But the story was about what went on inside the girl's head while she slept: what she saw, thought about, everything. There were no run-on sentences, and the language used was beautiful, magical even.

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. Stephanie suddenly found her will to move, ran up to Amber, who was in the middle of a sentence, and snatched the book from her, face burning and tears threatening to fall.

"Don't touch my writing!" Stephanie yelled, pushing Amber and then turning to run in the opposite direction. She didn't care where she was going, she just needed to get away from these people, from the humiliation of having her work read out loud.

She wound up behind the school, crouching against the wall. The tears finally spilled, and Stephanie began to sob, burying her face in between her knees and crying like a child. She was so embarrassed at having her story read like that, with half of the school listening.

She was especially angry with herself for over-reacting. She shouldn't have yelled like that, nor should she have pushed Amber, no matter how much she deserved it. She should have walked over calmly, grabbed the book out of Amber's hands, then walked off quietly as if nothing had happened. That's what the psychiatrist, what her _mother_ would have told her to do. But she'd let her anger take over, and had only humiliated herself more.

Stephanie didn't know how long she'd sat there, crying into her knees, but she heard someone walk over and sit down next to her. She ignored the person, thinking they would go away if they thought she wasn't in the mood. It's what they _should_ do. She didn't want anyone's pity.

"...Sorry about my sister." Stephanie was surprised to hear Nathaniel's voice, and raised her head slightly to look at him. He glanced at her, but was polite enough not to comment on her puffy eyes or the dried tears on her cheeks.

"She does that to everybody. Don't... take it personally," he said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Doesn't matter if she meant it or not, if you apologize for her or not, because I've already been humiliated," Stephanie replied bitterly, "You... were there?" _You were there, but didn't try to help me?_ Nathaniel sighed.

"No, I only saw you push Amber and run off. She scraped her knee. Lysander told me what happened before that. Again, I'm sorry that my sister's such a pain," Nathaniel explained. Stephanie felt warm inside: he'd only seen _her_ hurt Amber, only seen _her_ run off like a spoiled brat without apologizing. Yet he still took her side. She found herself smiling slightly.

"You have no need to apologize," she answered. They sat there in silence, simply enjoying each other's company. She was relieved that he didn't ask about her writing, or even mention it. Stephanie suddenly sat up.

"Did I miss any classes?" Stephanie asked, panicky. Nathaniel almost smiled.

"We both did. They're probably nearly done by now," he replied. Stephanie sighed in frustration. Then she smiled mischievously.

"You know, I've never skipped classes before," she divulged. Nathaniel smiled, too, knowing where this was going.

"Neither have I. Where do you want to go first?" he asked, standing up. Stephanie stood up as well.

"I haven't actually ever been to that clothes store down the block, the one where Rosalya's boyfriend works."

"Then that's our first stop, " Nathaniel decided, "We'll stop for ice cream on our way back."

"I like ice cream," Stephanie agreed, and they both smiled. They would get in _so_ much trouble.

**A/N:Fluff, fluff, fluff... Oh, hey! Just planning for a future chapter! :D I hope you liked this one, and please remember to review! Those who do get a virtual cookie :3**


	7. Chapter 7

_Disclaimer: I do not own My Candy Love, only Stephanie._

Two days later, Stephanie didn't come to school.

"Where is she?" Lysander asked, a bit worriedly, looking around the classroom, but knowing he would not see her. Stephanie was _never_ late. She, Rosalya and he had first period together, and class was about to start.

"Maybe she got lost?" Rosalya joked, trying to lighten the mood, but you could see the concern in her eyes.

Stephanie didn't come the next day, either, or the next. For a full four days no one heard from Stephanie or knew what had happened to her. People thought they should go check on her at her house, but Nathaniel stated that it would be an intrusion of privacy. Everyone was worried. Lysander couldn't find his notebook; Iris needed a study-buddy, and practically no one was available; Nathaniel found it harder and longer work to organize papers in the student council room, even with Melody's help. No one had realized how much they relied on Stephanie.

And then, on the fifth day, Stephanie finally came, looking tired and slightly skinnier than she was supposed to be. Rosalya was the first to throw herself at the girl, tears threatening to spill. Then came Violette, then Melody. She was quickly engulfed in female friends, all crying and asking if she was alright. She pushed them off with difficulty, trying to smile, reassuring them that she was fine. No one was truly convinced, but let her go nonetheless.

"Damn, girl, you look like you lost weight!" Rosalya scolded, trying to hide the fact that she had been about to cry, "You're eating half of my food at lunch, got it?" Stephanie chuckled: thankfully, no one noticed how fake it sounded.

"Where were you, anyway?" Castiel asked, as he had somehow wandered up to her. Stephanie bit her lip.

"I was... sick," she said, hoping she sounded convincing. Castiel accepted the excuse with a shrug, then looked around to make sure no one was looking. He leaned in and whispered: "Everyone was hella' worried about you, y'know. Next time you plan on disappearing, you should warn some of us." He grinned, then walked off.

If only they'd known what Stephanie had endured for the days that she'd been absent.

...

The nightmares and memories were what had kept Stephanie in bed. She didn't know what had triggered them. But they were even more vivid than usual: the screaming, the hurricane, the knife... She'd woken up screaming, yet the images hadn't gone away. She writhed in her sheets, trying to think of something else, _anything_ else, but the illusions only kept coming.

She'd had no appetite, not accepting a single thing that Auntie tried to force down her throat. Agatha had tried her best to soothe her niece, but in the end it was better if she wasn't there.

Stephanie screamed, sobbed, pulled at her hair, dragged her nails down her face, slammed her head against the headboard, _anything_ to get rid of the nightmares. Her past flashed before her eyes non-stop, refusing to give her a peace of mind even for a second. She'd buried her head under her pillow, screaming into the mattress, thrashing in the sheets, throwing them off, then trying to bury herself in them once again. She was vaguely aware of having picked up the nearest object a few times and thrown it across the room in her distress, though it had barely helped. She cried and yelled, begging for mercy, for forgiveness, though who she was praying to she had no idea. Maybe to God, maybe to an angel of luck.

Maybe to her dead parents. All she remembered was a progressive series of swearing, inflicting pain on herself and tears streaming constantly down her face.

For four days she was like this, day and night, non-stop, her mind taken over by those horrible memories. She'd gone practically insane: it hadn't been this bad since the hurricane, and now there was no hospital for her to go to, no nurses to attend to her, to help her regain control. No matter how much she hated that place, at least it could have found a method to calm her down.

On the fourth night, at three in the morning, it passed. She lay in her damp, sweaty bed, tears still streaming down her face, trying to calm her breathing, the quietness of her surroundings suddenly foreign to her. Her aunt had come in carefully, tip-toeing to Stephanie's bed, sitting down on the side and stroking her hair softly, comfortingly. Stephanie had seen the dark circles under Auntie's eyes, and it hit her that, with the ruckus she had been making, her aunt must have gotten little to no sleep at all. This only made Stephanie cry more: she apologized over and over, so guilty that she'd been such an inconvenience, feeling so sorry that Auntie had to go through this, too.

"It's okay, baby, shh, it's okay..." Agatha had whispered, trying her best to calm Stephanie down. She'd held the distressed girl in her arms, and they'd stayed like that until morning.

No matter how much her aunt had pleaded, Stephanie insisted on going to school. Before leaving she'd gorged a half-gallon of milk, two sandwiches, and a banana. She'd even put concealer under her eyes to hide the black circles.

"Stephanie!" Stephanie snapped back to reality as she heard Nathaniel calling her name, and looked up at him, trying her best to look unbothered.

"What are you doing out here?" he asked curiously, a hint of worry in his voice. Stephanie had been sitting out in the courtyard, on the grass, under a tree to try and organize her thoughts.

"Just... getting some fresh air..." Stephanie fibbed.

"May I join you?" he asked formally, and Stephanie nodded. Nathaniel sat down next to her, and they stayed silent for a while, merely enjoying each other's company.

"...I'm not going to ask what really happened," Nathaniel started, surprising Stephanie, "But... if you ever need someone to talk to, I'm always here. Just so you know..." He looked away, obviously embarrassed. Stephanie's eyes softened.

"Thanks, Nat," she mumbled, equally embarrassed. She wasn't used to comfort, except from Auntie, which she usually took for granted.

Then, he did something completely unexpected: wrapping his arms around her, Nathaniel pulled her into a gentle hug, burying his face into her hair. Stephanie froze, but slowly relaxed, liking the warmth of his embrace. She hugged him back, and they stayed like that, one minute, two minutes...

"I was really worried, y'know... We all were..." Nathaniel whispered into her hair, and Stephanie felt a lump forming in her throat.

"If you keep talking like that, I'm going to cry..." she warned, and he chuckled. He pulled away, his face beet-red: obviously, he wasn't used to physical contact, either. Stephanie felt herself blushing, as well. He stood up, brushing off, and said awkwardly: "So, I'll, uh, see you later..."

"Yeah..." Stephanie agreed, not making eye contact, too sheepish to do so. But as he walked off, she felt warm all over, and realized her heart was beating much faster than it was supposed to.

She smiled to herself: maybe she would tell him, but not now. Later, when they were a little bit closer.

That night, Stephanie sent two emails: one to Rosalya, containing her story 'Forbidden', and one to Lysander, containing 'Shoe Box'. It was about time she started opening up.

**A/N: Sorry for the short chapter, but I wanted to shed some light on Stephanie's past, so there you go! And a little bit of fluff, too. I'm SO sorry that it's late, I was gone all week last week (lol, repetition). I hope you liked it, please review, and thanks for reading! :D**


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